I made a list and checked it twice....

[robyn]

Ok so today was the day when I go grocery shopping for the up coming week.

As I have mentioned in a previous post I typically spend at least $200 a week at the grocery store and I really wanted to cut that down.

So I spent friday planning out 7 days of meals. I made a grocery list according to what was on sale.

Then I went through my kitchen looking to see what I already had on hand and crossed all them items I already had off my list.

Then I went thru all my coupons looking just for ones that corresponded with what was on my list.

I set a budget and ended up going over by $9.55 but I still think I did really good compared to what i have been spending.


This is what I got:

dish soap
canned chilies
2 rolls of paper towels
toilet paper
18 pk of eggs
jello pudding
zatarain rice mix
2 hawaiian sun guava nectar
frozen pizza
cornbread mix
ranch dressing
little debbie snack cakes
chocolate chips
12 pk coke
2 beef pot pies
2 cans of frozen juice concentrate
gatorade
butter
2 loaves of bread
alum. foil
rice
hot dog buns
2 bags of chips
curly fries
rice a roni
popcorn
margarine
salsa
laundry soap
5 cont. of yogurt
2 cans crm mushroom soup
chicken gravy
sea salt
peppercorns
sour cream
twinkies
5 cans tuna fish
2 64 oz jugs of 100% juice
bath soap
candy
toothpaste
aleve
2# pork ribs
milk
coffee
4.5# boneless chicken breast
turkey breast lunch meat
cheese
smoked sausage
cheddar sausage
hot dogs
bananas
apples
potatoes
rolls

total $169.10

coupons and in store savings $49.55


So I only ended up spending $119.55!!

I just saved $80 compared to what I usually spend....I feel like I did really good!

[Jskell911]

Wow, yeah, I would feel great about an $80 saving too! Once you get the hang of it you'll save even more!

Good for you!

[mickee311]

You did great! Believe me, this whole shopping the sale flyer combined with coupons thing is working out wonderfully for me. I buy only what is on sale unless I really really need it and combine coupons, being careful not to buy something JUST because I have the coupon. I saved $100 Thursday with sales and coupons and $80 a week and a half before that. I blew my budget, but it's only because we had extra money we put towards building our stockpile. I am loving this site! It's taught me so much in such a short time!

[sdrjeolsen]

Wow, you did awesome! doesn't it feel great to be able to spend that 80 on something you want to rather than having the grocery take it from you?!

[FrugalMomof3]

You did great! You took alot of time and effort into this, you should be proud

[MrsB]

Way to go!! Thats an awesome savings esp for the first week!

[Missy]

I have an idea, if you are interested in trying it. if you could repost your list, leave the items you didn't have a coupon for in black print and those you did in red, maybe a few of us could offer hints for the "black" items on ways to help shave that total down even more in the future.

for instance if you didn't have a coupon for the boneless chicken breasts, here's what I do...buy bone in and de-bone it myself. Generally if i do that i can get twice as much, pay less, and use the bones (and some on-hand veggies) to make a stock with.

you did awesome, I'd take an 80 dollar savings any day. High-five!!

[robyn]

Thanks everyone! I am going to do my best do this everytime I shop....cutting my food bill in almost half every month will free up a nice chunk of change to put towards our savings that as of right now is ZERO!

I love this board so many good ideas here!

[Lori Biever-Launder]

You did great for a first timer! I would mention a few things that will cut your bill down more:

--use rags instead of paper towels. These can be reused and you will save quite a bit. At least use them where cleaning is involved. If you need them for another use (my DH uses them for nose blowing if you can believe that!), get the cheapest kind you can. We typically use a roll every month or so.

--Instead of pop and Gatorade, make ice tea and drink water. If you have a die hard pop drinker, switch to whatever is one sale or the house brand. For example, a house brand 12 pack of Safeway brand can be bought for about $2.00. Compare that with Coke or Pepsi!

--Buy a whole turkey and roast it for just a bit more than the cost of two pounds of turkey breast. Your family can eat all week on that turkey and then you can make soup (or at least soup stock) for cold weather. You will still have the yummy turkey sandwiches!

--When you buy spices, make sure you buy in the bulk section. For example, I can buy a small bag or parsley to refill my jar...for EIGHT CENTS. To buy a prepackaged jar of parsley costs about $1.49. The same goes for salt and peppercorns. It is amazing how much spices are marked up.

--I hope you bought regular popcorn and not microwave. The microwave kind if soooo expensive compared to the plain old normal kind.


I am not trying to nitpick here, just give you some extra pointers to make your money go further. You are doing wonderfully; keep up the good work!

[Lori Biever-Launder]

bag OF parsley

Geeze, my typing STINKS.

[Little Birdie]

Absolutely great savings for the first week!!

Use the ideas here and you can keep whittling away at it. Remember that just because more progress can be made, doesn't negate the progress that has been made. You have an extra $80 in your pocket now!!

[latierra84]

thats awesome!! i really need to go out and get today's paper for the coupons. youve got me in a menu planning mood now, and thats a good thing!!

[mcphlips]

This was a great inspiration! I'm in the mood to menu plan now too!
Way to go frugal villagers!
I better get started before I lose that motivation!

[jinx]

Great Job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saving 80.00 is wonderful. It takes a bit of work but in the long run it is worth it.

[YankeeMom]

Great job!! I think you could feasibly cut it back a bit more without too much work or feeling deprived. Here are my ideas:

2 rolls of paper towels - cut back on the usage of these. I buy a 2-3 pack of paper towels that lasts us 2-3 months. We only use it for things I don't want to have to wash out of my dishclothes/dishtowels...like pet messes or other yucky stuff.


jello pudding - try making homemade. It doesn't take any longer than the packaged kind. It's cheaper, tastes better, and doesn't have all the added nasties that the pkg kind does. Check out these recipes: http://www.spam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typed.com/puddingrecipes.htm

zatarain rice mix
rice a roni - Again, try making your own homemade mixes. It sounds archaic and like a lot of work, but really it's not. Here are some of those recipes: http://www.spam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typed.com/ricerecipes.htm

2 hawaiian sun guava nectar
12 pk coke
milk
coffee
2 cans of frozen juice concentrate
gatorade
2 64 oz jugs of 100% juice - like Lori said, try to cut back on the purchased beverages. Make iced tea, put a jug of ice water in the fridge. Dilute the juice that you buy to make it last longer.

frozen pizza - homemade

cornbread mix - buy a 5lb bag of cornmeal & follow the recipe on the back of the bag. It tastes way better than the mixes (Jiffy cornbread mix is NASTY after you've made it from scratch). Here are other corn/cornmeal recipes: http://www.spam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typed.com/cornrecipes.htm

ranch dressing - Try some of these: http://www.spam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typed.com/sa...ingrecipes.htm

little debbie snack cakes
twinkies
candy- again, try homemade cakes, bars, cookies, muffins instead of the packaged kind. The added benefit (aside from the $$ savings) is you can control the sugar, fat, and kinds of grains (whole wheat vs white) that go into these.


2 beef pot pies - make this homemade and freeze them. Just get a chuck steak & throw it in the crockpot with some water, carrots, potatoes, onion, maybe a bit of salt & pepper. Cook on low 6-8hrs. Shred the beef. Make some gravy with the broth (1T flour to 1T butter, make a paste in the pan & add the broth while stirring) add it back in. You can put it in a pie crust or just a casserole dish & top with (homemade biscuits). I did this recently, it was soooo good!


2 bags of chips
popcorn - http://www.spam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typedspam! It is better fried than typed.com/snackrecipes.htm


2 cans crm mushroom soup - there's a recipe floating around here for homemade "Cream of" soup. I can pm it to you if you want. I often just vote for the canned store brand because of time, but one of my goals is to make this on a regular basis.

chicken gravy - make homemade w/ chicken broth (from boiling chicken/chicken bones), spices, and either cornstarch or flour/butter


rolls - try homemade. I have a recipe on here that is sooooo good and so easy, you'll never buy store rolls again


I find it helpful to divide up what you bought into categories: drinks, snacks, meat, produce, canned, etc. Just take a look at how much of your grocery budget is going towards drinks. Coffee, milk, and the occasional juice are the only drinks that are usually on my list.

The trick to these changes is NOT to try to do them all at once. Pick one thing to change. One week try homemade snacks. The next week try homemade rolls, etc. I still do this. Last week I made homemade Ketchup and english muffins. They both turned out really good & everyone loved them. This week I made donut muffins. OMG they are so good! Taste just like cinnamon sugar donuts! Next week I'm attempting pancake syrup.

HTH and I hope I didn't come off as preachy, cuz that was not my intent